DSDN104 - Project 2 - Sketch Model 5

Acrylic and black card layered

I to attempt to make my model have a reflective black surface like my project 1 render. I have had acrylic dye suggested to me but to save myself money i have decided to use the technique displayed above. By layering black card through acrylic i can achieve this effect and have a dynamic range of materials in my design. 

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Assembly Precedence

Laser cut arcade consol enclosure 

I found this laser cut file on Ponoko and downloaded the assembly to see how it is constructed. I was interested in it because it uses multiple pins to hold it together instead of one central locking tab for each side. I will be looking into this method further for the assembly of my model. 

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Sketch Model 4 - Stacking Method

 Testing suspending the model from the ceiling with fishing wire. 

Testing the vertical stacking method for the torso assembly of my laser cut model 

I have been considering constructing the torso of my 3ds max form out of horizontal slices from my 3DS max file. I cut out a rough arrangement of slices then compiled them. The end product, i felt was sufficiently reflective of my render from project 1.

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Concept For Final Form

Precedent image i will be using from project one to create my laser cut form in project 2 

Using the narrative from project one I will create a final laser cut form that shows the degeneration and disintegration of a virus. I want to use various methods to make up the form as it has both solid and fluid aspects to it. The top body and torso will be stacked sliced from my 3ds file. I will etch into these negative boarders to represent the division and replication of cells degenerating. This will be a combination of acyclic and cardboard allowing me to colour the card black and have the acrylic mirror the colour throughout the form. I also want to have the form attached initially with one rod through the centre but then begin to slowly with each slice, explode the form, suspending it with yarn to further show the idea of degeneration and disintegration. The tentacles will be made entirely out of acrylic. This will grant me the ability to melt and skew each tentacle as the are in my precedence image from project 1. The form will stand upright on these tentacles or balance on a acrylic base.

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Precedence - Philip Beesley: Hylozoic Ground

Philip Beesley: Hylozoic Ground 

 

Philip Beesley's Hylozoic Ground was exibitioned at the wellington art gallery. It involved a series of intricately designed objects that had been lasercut and formed to represent a living breathing ecosystem. What i found interesting about this was not just the saturation of fluid forms but the way he used organic means to make the object react to touch, as if they really were alive. I would like to integrate this element into my form making it movable. having it in separate parts rather that just one static piece.

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Laser Cutting References/Precedence

 A modeler's Guide to Acrylic

Sketch Chair

I have been showed two usefull sites that allow me to acosiate myself with the methods of laser cutting. Sketch Chair uses a dynamic user interface that allows anyone with minimal knowledge of the program to design and physically create their own chair.  A modeler's Guide to Acrylic has handy tips on ways of presenting acrylic as a final form. This advice will be cruicial in refining the small details when I am perfecting my fial form.

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Studio 4

Screenshots from my illustrator file showing the cleanup of my forms body 

using the stacking method then the etched inlays of each layer in the second screen shot.

I used todays session to finish cleaning up each of my sections that will make up the head and torso of my model. Using the stacking method, I want to get very intricate detailings on each layer. I copied a second layer of my slices and scaled it down to seventy percent of the origninal size then turned it to a black stroke. This gives each slice a fine detailing, reflecting the outline of the slice. I want to use this aesthetic to relate to my narrative of  "degeneration" as it reperesents the division of cells and new cells growing to replace old cells.

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Develoment - Tenticle 3DS Export

Taking slices from my 3DS Max file and using them in Illustrator as the tentacles fr my final 3D form

In order to get not just the torso slices from my 3ds model but the tentacles i have had to bring across on intricate slice of one tentacle and place in my illustrator file. I then duplicated this one slice several times then scaled and repeated the duplication till i had sets of several tentacles ready to cut on the laser cutter. In order to give the same sporadic effect of the tentacles in my 3ds form that is relevant to the 3ds model i will heat and bend each individual tentacle. 

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Sketch Model 3 - Tentacle Melting Testing

First few attempts at heating and bending the acrylic legs i will be laser cutting.

In order to reflect my project 1 renders I will be constructing tentacles for my lasercutting files using slices from the ones on my 3DS model. I have played with melting, twisting and bending them in order to reflect the sporadic layout of the tentacles in my render. 

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Studio 3

 

Cleaning up my slices from 3ds max in illustrator

 Smoothing and Optimising for clean slices

I found by sectioning what elements I want to apply to what section is a good way to approach my final composition. I have decided to use the stacking method for the body of my form. This involved optimising and smoothing the form in 3ds max to max it more solid and less messy when i imported it into illustrator. I have began cleaning up each segment ready to show what i want cut and what i want etched. 

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Sketch Model 2

First model concept using "stacking" method.

I have played around with the stacking method using card to derive from my 3ds max form. I found card largely successfully structurally but aesthetically very dull. I would like to play round with cutting some acrylic for the final form. 

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Development - Illustrator Assembly

First concept assembly in illustrator.

For my first concept of my project 2 iteration I used 35 slices from my 3ds max file. I have found that 3ds max has hollowed my model. This is the problem for using the stack method as it will not create proper forms. 

DSDN112 - Project 1 Synthetic Synesthesia (Touching Sound) - Finals

Synthetic Synesthesia 

(Touching Sound)

This project began with an investigation into sound. The phenomenon of sound interested me because as of yet there is no solid science to explain the experience, the essence of sound. Sound waves are made up of particles that have shifted and vibrated as a bi-product of an action, they hit our eardrums, are transformed by the inner ear into electrical impulses to the brain. There is no physical way to explain how these electrical impulses create the conscious experience that is sound. This is reasoning behind sound illusions such as the “Mcgurk effect” and suggests that combining the right physical factors can create illusions of experiences. I then began developing an idea that would allow me to create an illusion of experience by fusion of the two senses, sound and touch. My aim was to create a form of synthetic Synesthesia, where the user feels like they are touching sound. By creating five textures that when triggered play a sound, which I have designed to match the corresponding texture, the object produces a multi sensory experience for the user.

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Final Aesthetic

Final look of my interative object

For the final presentation of the object i wanted to make sure the experience was entirely dedicated to the feeling rather than people getting overwhelmed with all the knobs, faders and dials on the midi controller. I wrapped the controller in canvas as a response to this, covering any sign of "technology". This means the user will gain a completly organic experience that is prodeced by what they are feeling and hearing, not what they are looking at. 

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Demonstrative Video

View video here on Vimeo

Seeing as i cant physically give you my object after presentation here is a video of it in action.

 - Note: The aesthetics of my final object are different as the one shown here is just a concept.

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Further Texture Development

 Sandpaper texture with improved gradient 

from smooth to rough

 Pipe-cleaners with larger surface area and more 

colors to enhance surprise effect

Sanded balsa with staircase texture to match sound 

Sponge with increased surface area 

Soft synthetic wool with increased surface area

After talking with Angela about my design it came to my attention that there were a few areas that needed developing. The way the user interacts with each surface is crucial in the designs success. In order for the sound to be triggered the user must apply enough pressure to each surface. I solved this by extruding each surface away from the keys of the controller. This created more torque so less pressure needed to be applied to the surface to push down each key. Secondly the surfaces required the user to run their hands along the surface rather than just touch to achieve the full experience. We talked about making the surfaces sloped, the the user would be forced to run there hands along the surface. However in testing the user had to use an uncomfortable wrist/hand position to achieve this. I decided to instead make the surfaces longer. This had a positive effect as most users instinctively wanted to run their hands along the long surface rather than just touch.  

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Sketch Model 1 - Stacking

Staking test using vertical slices 

I found this method of stacking largely unsuccessful for my design. My 3DS max file does not have enough width to make this method of stacking viable for the torso of my model.  

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Texture Development

I have refined my textures to make them more interesting to the touch as well as making them more tactile. The balsa i have carved inlays to the user will feel a repetition in texture, as there is a repetition in the sound. The sandpaper has had a smooth to rough texture added to it as the sound builds up. 

DSDN104 - Project 2 - Studio 1

 Using illustrator to refine each slice from 3ds max

Creating slices in 3ds Max to export to illustrator.

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Texture Testing

Trail 1 of 6 testing how people match textures to sound

I have been testing how accurate each sound is to it texture on 18 different people. I have displayed the 6 most common combinations users gave. It was interesting to find that there was a consistant pattern of users matching the wool, sponge and pipe cleaners to their appropriate sounds however sandpaper and balsa were inconsistent. This has lead me to the conclusion that I need to make these textures more defined and retest until i get consistent results. 

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Sound And Texture Development

Textures I am using and below are the samples that convey these textures

1 - Wool

2 -  Sponge

3 - Pipe Cleaners

4 - Balsa

5 - Sandpaper

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Sound Creation

Creating Sound To Match The Textures  

Ableton Live is the program i am working in to create the sounds as well as trigger them in he experiment 

 The sandpaper sample that is triggered when the sandpaper is touched 

"Massive" is the virtual instrument I have used to create the sounds

The sounds I have created to match my textures have been created entirely from scratch as sine and saw waves using the virtual instrument "Massive". When the textures are touched it presses down a key on the midi controller sending a "MIDI" note to Ableton on the laptop which I have mapped to trigger the sample which the user then hears through the headphones creating a simultaneous touch/hear experience. I must articulate that this is NOT a keyboard, it is a midi controller meaning it makes no sound on its own marly sends signals to the computer. All actions and sounds expressed by the controller have been created and programed by myself. I am the owner and creator of all experiences created by this experiment. Below is a tutorial on how I made one of the sounds in "Massive". It should  demonstrate how the instrument works for those unfamiliar. 

How I created the "Sand Paper" sound on "Massive"

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Concept Trial

Initial Concept

First concept Experiment displaying the materials I will use 

Initial Testing

Initial testing of "Touching Sound"

After I had finished a concept of my experiment i immediately put it to the test. I began with trailing 5 people and asked them about their experiences. The overall comments where good with the users gaining a muti sensory experience as the touched the textures. They understood the idea and had fun engaging in the experiment. The criticism i got where that a few textures didn't quite match the sound. These where the balsa and the sand paper. I will develop this further but i was happy to learn that the other three materials reflected their sounds accurately    

DSDN104 - Project 1 - 81 Iterations - Final Handin

Final image of my 81 3DS Max iterations 

To remain consistant with my narrative I have composed this aesthetic of my 81 iterations to show the evolutionary and degenerative cycle of an RNA virus expressed by the development of my iterations. My hero iteration was not my last iteration but my 41st. This was so i could show the destructive disintegration of the virus from iterations 42 through to 81. To finalise my aesthetic I arranged all the images on a white background to highlight the sterility and to suggest it is part of a medical investigation into how the virus changes and behaves. I also added text with direct relevance to my narrative and to help eventuate the involvement of my 3 precedent words, degeneration, disintegration and virus.  

DSDN104 - Project 1 - Hero - Final Handin

Final image displaying my hero iteration. 

My narrative is very clinical showing a the evolutionary degenerative cycle of a RNA virus. I have created an aesthetic that is consistant with this idea and is therefore why i have chosen a clean white background. The information displayed on the image gives an in depth detail into what an RNA Virus is  and how it operates. I did this to enforce the clinical aesthetic as it the image is documenting this virus form for investigative research    

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Development - The Human Mind and Its Interaction With Sound

The Human Mind and Its Interaction With Sound. 

Sound is essentially codes in the form of sound waves. Therefore there is no scientific explanation for how the brain turns these "codes" into sound experiences. This means the mind can be easily tricked into creating false experiences from certain sounds. There are a few phenomenons that easily demonstrate this. 

"Some pieces of music consist of high-speed arpeggios or other repeating patterns, which change only subtly. If they’re played fast enough, the brain picks up on the occasional notes that change, and links them together to form a melody. The melody disappears if the piece is played slowly.

Compare these recordings of Christian Sinding’s Frühlingsrauschen (“Rustle of Spring”). At the higher speed, the changing notes linger in your perception long enough to be linked into a melody, but at the lower speeds they’re too widely separated."

The shepherd's paradox is another sound illusion in which pairs of chords sound as if they are advancing up the scale, but in fact the starting pair of chords is the same as the finishing pair. If you loop this sample seamlessly then it should be impossible to tell where the sample begins and ends.

The Shepard's Paradox

These interactions suggest to me that I can manipulate the way the brain experiences sound by including textures and removing sight. Thus creating a isolated sound and touch sensory experience. 

DSDN104 - Project 1 - Final Week - Assembly/Textures/Lighting/Rendering

Experimenting with textures

Aligning iterations ready for composition

Composition and lighting experiments

For and effective clinical aesthetic i will be using a white background. This will allow me to align my models in way that allows the viewer to clearly see the evolutionary and degenerative cycle that my iterations went through. The composition will suggest it is a investigative study of the virus and its changes, accurately a RNA Virus that undergoes roughly the same cycle as my narrative suggests. I wanted to use oil for my texture, giving my iterations an organic, slimy texture but with my lighting setup it reflected a series of colors as oil does. I then chose to use black glass as my texture as i had the same gloss black look and reflected the light in a way that gave my forms life, as if they were oozing slime. I used three "Day" lights and 4 omni lights near my models to make them reflect the light off their surface as well as cast vivid shadows onto the backdrop. I did this simply to add depth and consistency to my clinical aesthetic and to show the slimey de tailings of my models' surfaces.   

DSDN104 - Project 1 - Week 4o - 70 Iterations

My latest 30 iterations in this weeks studio. I hope to have 81 by tomorrow for rendering on Thursday.

I have begun the process of degenerating and disintegrating my iterations as consistant with my narrative. I feel I reached a complex enough final paramount form to achieve enough degeneration to last 40 models. What is interesting about these 40 models is that the follow a reversed process in my evolutionary first 40 iterations but the are completely different in form, almost directly juxtaposing what I had begun with. I would like my final iteration to mirror my first one so that the viewer only has to look at the 1 and 81st iteration to understand the narrative.     

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Storyboard

DSDN112 - Project 1 - Proposal

112 – Proposal – Seeing and Feeling Sound

For my interactive object I want to create an experiment that allows the mind to visualise and feel sound that you are hearing. I want to create sounds that the brain directly associates the way certain material look and feel like. This will in a sense be and illusion of the mind as the objects appearance and texture have no visual association but I want to create an object that suggests the human brain has the ability to visualise and feel what it is feeling, creating a multisensory experience. I intend on creating this experience buy attaching contrasting textures to different notes on a keyboard. I will use the software “Ableton Live” to make each key trigger a sound that I feel is reflective of the materials texture. As people will have a varied expectance of what each sound should look or feel like I will have to survey a certain amount of people. I will create different sounds and different materials and ask a selection of people to match certain textures with different sounds. I will repeat and refine this selection to the point where I am getting consistent results with pairing of materials to sounds. As we have no way to explain how our brain turns soundwaves, light waves and electrical impulses through our nervous system into an experience I hope to give the user a new way of considering this phenomenon. I feel that combining sensors is a good way of investigating this, and I also hope through my findings this idea can be replicated in a more practical direction, weather it is used to enhance the way musicians play instruments, or to help someone blind experience sight without necessarily seeing.     

            

DSDN104 - Project1 - Week 3 - 40 Iteratons - Rendering With Lighting

Quick render of my 40 iterations

I was unable to master lighting so i have uploaded a quick render of what i have. I added a carbon fibre texture to my iterations. The composition is obviously not ideal but i will work on this over this weekend. I did however get to play with sunlight and omni lights. I am looking at adding glowing edges to my models for a scientific HDR aesthetic. I need to look into more lighting tutorials as i would like my final 81 iterations to be casting shadows on the backdrop giving the scene a lot more depth. 

DSDN104 - Project 1 - Week 3 - Development - Iterations 23 - 35

I have found twist a useful way to improve

 new forms but not create them.

Scaling has been an effective way of displaying the evolution of each 

iteration as well as showing degeneration in my iterations.   

4 x 4 has been useful for gaining precision changes to 

each modle 

Sphere has been a helpful modifier in enabling me to show growth and evolution. 

I found using the twist and sphere to create the abstraction of a virus growing, morphing wings and finally condensing into its paramount form. showing how a form can expand and shed excess mass to improve its structure like a butterfly from a cocoon. I have however found the best way to create new  forms is using "Edit Poly". This alowed me to take agressive control over the change in forms while letting me add pieces of old iterations into new designs. This ment i could display how evolution uses old means and improves them to create hybrid forms.